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Disaster Mythology and Fact: Hurricane Katrina and Social Attachment
- Source :
- Public Health Reports. 123:555-566
- Publication Year :
- 2008
- Publisher :
- SAGE Publications, 2008.
-
Abstract
- Misconceptions about disasters and their social and health consequences remain prevalent despite considerable research evidence to the contrary. Eight such myths and their factual counterparts were reviewed in a classic report on the public health impact of disasters by Claude de Ville de Goyet entitled, The Role of WHO in Disaster Management: Relief, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction (Geneva, World Health Organization, 1991), and two additional myths and facts were added by Pan American Health Organization.In this article, we reconsider these myths and facts in relation to Hurricane Katrina, with particular emphasis on psychosocial needs and behaviors, based on data gleaned from scientific sources as well as printed and electronic media reports. The review suggests that preparedness plans for disasters involving forced mass evacuation and resettlement should place a high priority on keeping families together—and even entire neighborhoods, where possible—so as to preserve the familiar and thereby minimize the adverse effects of separation and major dislocation on mental and physical health.
- Subjects :
- Social Alienation
Volunteers
medicine.medical_specialty
Survival
International Cooperation
Poison control
Disaster Planning
Criminology
Vulnerable Populations
Suicide prevention
Occupational safety and health
Food Supply
Disasters
Viewpoint
Residence Characteristics
Water Supply
Anxiety, Separation
medicine
Humans
Family
Foreign Medical Graduates
Health Services Needs and Demand
Emergency management
business.industry
Public health
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Mythology
Louisiana
Relief Work
Texas
Preparedness
Housing
Public Health
business
Disaster medicine
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14682877 and 00333549
- Volume :
- 123
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Public Health Reports
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....6c0f6299d3b44ff6a81c15884c6a4c63